Well, I went for both days and a stopover on the saturday night. Unfortunately we had to leave earlier than we would have liked on the Sunday to catch our flight back to Luton, so we missed the last two games.

The overall impression of the event was very, very positive.
I like Murrayfield and thought it was a good 'fit' for the event. Positives were you could move around a lot and there seemed to be heaps of food, drink and activities. I didn't move around the entire stadium - we were seated in the East stand so stayed in that area. Toilets were aplenty and clean. Negatives would be that the food/drink was a little overpiced, but only a little. They weren't much more than you'd normally pay but I think a little more nevertheless.

Interesting to read there was lot more activities and food/drink options on the other side of the ground - a lesson there for me I think! I liked the William Hill banter booth and thought this added to the carnival atmosphere and gave another activity to people - more of this sort of thing please! (possibly just being pleased to see myself on the youtube clip but still think its a good thing)

I thought there could have been a greater choice of merchandise - I think there was only the one t-shirt for sale with any reference whatsoever to the MW concept, the rest being England RL stuff only. Maybe there was more available elsewhere throughout the stadium - can someone advise? I think the clubs/SL/the RFL missed a trick by not having more club merchandise for sale as an example. Also, perhaps more GB merchandise, maybe some other international merchandise - French, Scottish, Welsh, Irish etc etc? I know I would have bought some mercho when sober.....then promptly backed it up with another purchase when drunk!

I thought the city itself was fantastic and supports an event like this pretty well - plenty of accommodation, restaurants, public transport etc etc. Lots to see and do too if you want to make an event of it and stay longer.

The group I was with are already committed to returning next year (continued employment being conditional of course! ) and we'll learn from our experiences, as I'm sure the RFL and the city and the stadium itself will too.

I don't think I could really fault it though of course there are some valid constructive criticisms and I hope they're taken on board.

I'd support the following constructve criticisms;
seating arrangements - should be better stewarded as it could have led to unfortunate and unnecessary confrontation.
covered enclosures - the weather was by and large very good (though, yes, cold in the shade - I bought an England RL hooded jumper though as a result, so I'm happy!) but if it was wetter we may have needed more shelter for those outside. Or accept no or reduced movement outside, we were certainly lucky.
merchandise - more choice, see above.

whilst I didn't see any trouble I did feel at the time that having alcohol available over such a long period (and yes, I know, I heartily availed myself of it for the whole first day and a part of the second) could have led to some difficulties. Maybe starting serving beer slightly later in the day may help in this regard? Equally, I may well be trying to fix something which isn't broken?

I personally wouldn't change that much of the structure of the event. I liked it but then again it seems most people who went did like it, though of course it's inevitable that there should be some constructive criticisms, nay, its desirable that there are - that's how you improve things! Once again I see a trend on MM - those who went, liked it; those who don't like it, didnt go and perhaps just dislike the concept. Generalisations of course.....

To the nay-sayers who didnt go: Put your concerns to one side, reserve judgement and go next year - I'm betting you will probably really enjoy it. I think you will surprise yourself if you do go!

overall - 9/10. For me its the potentially the best event we have in our calendar. Already, as a social event, I think it eclipses the GF and the CC. The best way to describe is to compare it to the atmosphere of the Cup but spread over two full days! party time! Fancy dress is a part of that and cant be a bad thing (I was in a kilt with red hair/beret combo!)

stick with it guys, it'll work better over time.

bring on 2010, thats what I say!

How about staging it somewhere that actually has a club that any 'new' support it attracts can actually continue their interest with?

Seriously if any Edinburgh locals attended and liked the look of the sport, what more can they do except watch a few games on sky? It's more likely to get more people into union up there than league!!

Why not have the thing in London and try and help get quins crowds up, or the north east with gateshead in the future? They could've tied MM in with celtic had they based them in cardiff, but it was another opportunity missed.

If the rfl are to continue to justify asking fans to travel all over the country to watch their club play a league game, they should at least give any new support attracted by the event, the advantage of having a club nearby to continue their support once it's finished

reddan wrote:How about staging it somewhere that actually has a club that any 'new' support it attracts can actually continue their interest with? Seriously if any Edinburgh locals attended and liked the look of the sport, what more can they do except watch a few games on sky? Perhaps they could get involved in playing for or watching one of these clubs. There's more to rugby league than the 14 full time professional in SL.

reddan wrote:How about staging it somewhere that actually has a club that any 'new' support it attracts can actually continue their interest with? Seriously if any Edinburgh locals attended and liked the look of the sport, what more can they do except watch a few games on sky? Perhaps they could get involved in playing for or watching one of these clubs. There's more to rugby league than the 14 full time professional in SL.

tb wrote:Perhaps they could get involved in playing for or watching one of these clubs. There's more to rugby league than the 14 full time professional in SL. You'll be saying RL started before 1996 next.

tb wrote:Perhaps they could get involved in playing for or watching one of these clubs. There's more to rugby league than the 14 full time professional in SL. You'll be saying RL started before 1996 next.

tb wrote:Perhaps they could get involved in playing for or watching one of these clubs. There's more to rugby league than the 14 full time professional in SL. I fully appreciate that fact and the more interest in the grass roots side of the sport, the better, but is it worth staging such a large high-profile event just to get a few extra people to visit amateur clubs? Staging the MW in london for example could do wonders for the interest in quins if marketed correctly. As I mentioned before, the same could be said for gateshead (not a SL club btw) in the north east. My point is that I really can't see the point of going to scotland to promote the sport when there's still so much that can be done in places like london, wales, france and even manchester, who all have professional clubs where the interest can be focussed after the event. Afterall its the top level game that gets kids playing the sport and thus many end up doing so in the amateur game.

tb wrote:Perhaps they could get involved in playing for or watching one of these clubs. There's more to rugby league than the 14 full time professional in SL. I fully appreciate that fact and the more interest in the grass roots side of the sport, the better, but is it worth staging such a large high-profile event just to get a few extra people to visit amateur clubs? Staging the MW in london for example could do wonders for the interest in quins if marketed correctly. As I mentioned before, the same could be said for gateshead (not a SL club btw) in the north east. My point is that I really can't see the point of going to scotland to promote the sport when there's still so much that can be done in places like london, wales, france and even manchester, who all have professional clubs where the interest can be focussed after the event. Afterall its the top level game that gets kids playing the sport and thus many end up doing so in the amateur game.

The list of places where they could stage the game could be quite long if you use those criteria but no doubt there other factors to consider too....like;
Does Gateshead have enough accommodation to handle 30 - 60k of RL supporters, is there sufficient public transport, is there a stadium available close to a city centre, do they want us there etc etc.

Ditto London - you could of course say that London has more than enough accommodation and oodles of public transport to suport an event like this and it may well work but I can't quite see a venue which ticks the boxes, from a social point of view, as Millenium and Murrayfield did. Wembley? The place is a cr@p-hole and if it wasn't for the tradition of the CC I'd warrant the majority of RL supporters would like to go elsewhere, certainly for MM anyway. Part of the attraction is the social element, where you can stream in and out as you like, to fetch others in, to get a bite ouside or whatever. Wembley has nothing else to offer other than an industrial estate. There are other stadia of course but getting the right size, at a suitable location, is difficult.

There may well be heaps of other desirable alternatives to host this event but how many are viable? Indeed, how many of them want us?! I'd read that there were representatives of two other English cities attending Murrayfield, one of them being Newcastle and I think this is a fantastic coup for the RFL. To create competition for hosting the event is great and promises to create some funding for the game.

No. And it wouldn't be worth staging a high profile event to get a few extra people to visit one SL club or one Championship club either. And if that's why we did it, you'd have a point. But that's not why we do it.

The reason we held Millennium Magic was that Wales and Cardiff paid us to take an event there, to replace the lost cup finals. The reason we moved it is that the WRU didn't deliver on advertising and other support, and Edinburgh and the SRU made us a better offer. It also provides a good 'show piece' event for the the whole RL family. And raises the profile of the game.

Getting locals interested in a) one super league club or b) some amateur clubs or even c) rugby league in general from grass roots to the international game is a nice bonus.

I agree with your points about why the event exists and the benefits it provides, but none of that would be lost if the rfl strategically hosted it in an area that could potentially become a thriving rl community.

If it goes to newcastle for example, marketed correctly, as well as being the show piece event that it is, it could also be a real benefit to gateshead thunder if it generates some serious interest in the game up there. That would be the 'nice bonus' you mentioned, so why not try and do it as there'd be nothing to lose?

If Newcastle make a better offer in 2011 than Edinburgh or Cardiff or anywhere else, I'd have no problem at all with them hosting it (though I'm not sure how those moaning about Murrayfield being a half hour walk from the City Centre would cope with the trek between St James Park and the Quayside)

Or how NUFC would see seven games on their pitch at the sharp end of the football season.

It didn't rain though.